Covering every corner of Europe, Schultz found and documented these forgotten border checkpoints that no longer belong to anywhere. They just sit, going to waste with broken or shuttered windows, rusty doors and peeling paint – merging the past with the present.

Although the border police are long gone, and the buildings are abandoned, they still remind us of the past when Europe was divided by borders.

Carl Faberge devoted this egg to the important event in the history of the dynasty of Russia - the coronation of Nicholas II. Nicholas II presented it to his wife. The egg’s shell resembles the cloth of gold mantels, which Nicholas and Alexandra wore during the coronation. The egg's surprise is a copy of the coronation carriage used by the Romanovs during the 18th century; it is rendered in incredible detail, down to the coach seats and spring

Because infants cannot express themselves, parents must make decisions for them based on guesswork. One such decision is which stroller to buy, and whether it's actually comfortable for the baby. To address this, stroller manufacturer Contours created something funny, if a little silly: A scaled-up, adult-sized version of their stroller that allows parents to take it for a "test drive"—as a passenger.

The new one-off Wrangler is built on the base Sport trim, but Jeep hacked off the roll bar, threw the doors in a pile somewhere, and painted the Jeep the same olive-drab color found on the old Willys MB workhorse.

Called the 75th Wrangler Salute, the one-off Jeep has the same bumpers found on the built-for-Egypt J8, except it’s got the Toledo plant’s area code “419” stenciled on the passenger’s side. On the hood, taking the place of the original military identifier number, is today’s date, representing 75 years since the U.S. government awarded Willys-Overland the contract to build the old World War Two Willys MB.

Sadly, the Wrangler 75th Salute is merely a concept, and given its low-back front seats, cut bumpers, and apparent lack of rollover bar, it doesn’t meet the modern safety requirements needed to reach production. The closest thing (sort of) that you can get from a dealer today is the Willys edition. So, consider the 75th Salute concept to be Jeep’s gift to itself, there are no plans to build even a limited series of 75th Salute Wranglers.

Friday, July 15, 2016

The NHRA museum in Pomona, California has commissioned the restoration of the Beast IV Streamliner. Dan Webb of webbautomotiveart.com and his daughter Ashley Taulbert, (well known for the modern recreation of the "Golden Sub", the Remington Modified recreation, the So-Cal Streamliner, and the fully sculpted Wedge Roadster, just to name a few) will be tasked to recreate the Beast IV and are currently making progress.

The streamliner will then be unveiled after the restoration/rebuild at the NHRA Museum in January 2017 during the GNRS

they made it to CES 2016, but weren't allowed to shoot down drones.. so, they ended up demonstrating some box smashing. Ho hum. If they were ready to shoot down drones, or dop anything spectacular, there would be a you tube video of it, and they would be getting sponsors like Red Bull and Go Pro to jump into the arena of bot fighting.

If you put a small block in each forearm to power the chainsaw and hydraulics, this would be epic

It's been a year since the 12 month deadline challenge, and nothing is even close to getting half way to being bolted together, not the plans, not the bots, and not a clue as to if the Japanese are even still committed. I looked, and they have zero on the internet about a bot even in planning stages.

If they kick this off, and get some publicity to help along, and some other crazy bot teams to enter, this is very likely the next UFC, and the newest billion dollar sport, like WWE, UFC, and Nascar. All 3 make over a billion a year.

If they don't show up to San Diego Comic Con they are fools... the free publicity at SDCC can't even be dreamed of

The Meier/Seehuus team hit the highway in a 1938 Kenworth, the only semi-tractor in the cross-country competition, to compete in a portion of the Hemming's Motor News Great Race, a cross-country road rally of antique vehicles at least 45 years old

Iowa 80 Truckstop hosted a fuel stop for race vehicles, and then racers headed to LeClaire Park in Davenport to put their vehicles on display for the evening.

Found in the parking garage under the World Trade Center towers. A few Port Authority Police Department vehicles are all that remain of a fleet of damaged and destroyed vehicles that were stored in the hangar. Car No. 52320, in the foreground of this photograph, is destined for the Fire Department of Weymouth, Mass., Ms. Dumas said. Artifacts have been distributed to institutions in every state and in Afghanistan, Brazil, Britain, Canada, China, Germany, Ireland and South Korea.

There were six empty PATH cars still in the station at that time, three of which were badly damaged and three were not, including Car 745, the head car. The lead car is now at the Shore Line Trolley Museum in East Haven, Conn. Its companion is still unclaimed.

Thursday, July 14, 2016

A truck driver plowed through a crowd celebrating Bastille Day (its national day—July 14) in Nice, France, killing dozens.

What we know:
- At least 80 people are reported dead and 18 critically wounded
- The driver of the truck fired shots
- The driver was killed when police fired on the vehicle
- The truck was loaded with weapons and grenades

A truck driver barreled for more than a mile through Bastille Day revelers thronging the famed seaside promenade here Thursday, killing scores of people and sending a terror-scarred nation reeling again.

The driver slammed the massive vehicle, which an official said was loaded with explosives and weapons, into a crowd packed with families that had come to see the celebratory fireworks, leaving bodies in his wake.

The rampage in Nice came less than two weeks before Mr. Hollande planned to lift a national state of emergency imposed after Nov. 13 terrorist attacks in Paris. The emergency status had been extended twice since then.

After Thursday’s assault on the Riviera, he extended it for another three months, and said 10,000 soldiers would be deployed to help police and gendarmes bolster security throughout France.

“The whole of France is under the threat of Islamist terrorism,” the president said. “In these circumstances, we have to show complete vigilance and a flawless determination.”

The event will coincide with this year’s Walcott Truckers Jamboree, July 14-16. The public is welcome to attend the celebration.

“We are fortunate to have this Mack AC. It is the first one built of the 40,299 that were manufactured between 1916 -1938”, says Dave Meier, museum curator. “It was actually shown at the Boston Auto Show when it was new and then sold to an ice delivery company. We purchased it from Harrah’s Casino in 1981 and had it professionally restored in 2002.”

This is an Avery truck. The Avery Company of Peoria, IL offered their wood plug tire sometime around 1910 and it consisted of a hard rubber tire with holes around the perimeter mounted on a cast steel rim with 96 hard wood plugs driven into the holes. When the plugs wore down, the whole tire wasn’t replaced, just the plugs. Worked great on dirt roads.

Coulson Aviation has invested $1-million to fly the aging air tanker to the world’s largest airshow in Oshkosh, Wis. later this month.
Visitors to Port Alberni have been stunned to see the plane parked on Sproat Lake this week as it prepares for the eight-hour trip on July 23.

“This is a big undertaking for us,” said Coulson project manager Mayco Noel. “We’ve been working on the aircraft for the last 90 days, with some engine repairs, some sheet metal. So it’s been, definitely, a big investment for us.”

Built in the 1940s and with a wingspan of 61 metres, the Mars is the largest aircraft of its kind still flying today.

Aviation enthusiast Kermit Weeks, who owns one of the world’s largest private vintage airplane collections, (and I just posted him flying a P 51) is footing the $40,000 gas bill in exchange for piloting the mammoth machine south of the border.

“This was the largest airplane built during World War two, the largest sea plane in the world next to the Spruce Goose so with anyone wanting to say they’ve flown the Martin Mars we’re giving people that opportunity” he added.

But the opportunity will not come cheap. A chance to sit in the cockpit, with hands on the controls in the air will cost $25,000 US.

“Day one we’re going to be doing some water taxiing, so get the feel of the airplane on the water, how we dock the airplane, doing some high speed runs and then day two we’ll actually get behind the wheel and go fly it around Port Alberni for an hour” added Coulson.

here is just one short snippet for example from the life story of Nate Jones, who among other things works with JPL, helped to restore the USS Iowa, and founded the Long Beach Gran Prix:

Nate Jones Tires has been a Long Beach institution since the early 1960s when, during a road trip to the Yukon Territory, Jones found himself so impressed by the Michelins running on his 1955 Chevrolet that he called back home to his friend and mentor, Mel Hamer (himself a legend in the world of brakes and wheel balance), and announced that he wanted to be a tire man.

Once back home in Long Beach, Jones rented a single bay in Hamer’s shop and set about steadily growing his business, eventually becoming Michelin’s exclusive racing tire distributor for the western United States for 25 years.

By 1966, Jones thought that perhaps the racing world might have an appetite for his wheel-balancing services, too, so he loaded up his equipment and made the 70 mile trek east to Riverside International Raceway, then West Coast racing’s epicenter. At the track gate, Jones announced himself and asked the guard if he could offer his services to the teams gathered for the following weekend’s Can-Am race.

The guard directed Jones inside and mentioned that he might want to talk with a fellow by the name of John Surtees, who, rumor had it, was displeased with his current wheel balancers.

After talking briefly with Surtees – at the time only a few years removed from winning world championships in both Formula 1 and in motorcycles – Jones was permitted to see how he might help the team’s Lola T70 racecar. Surtees then hopped into the cockpit and headed out to test Jones’s work.

on June 15, 1965, the Walls brothers took delivery of Shelby Mustang number 5S127, a stone-stock 1965 G.T. 350 that left Shelby's LAX conversion plant on April 26.

Changes over the next decade included a swap to 5.14 gears, Hilborn mechanical fuel injection, and a 305 (a 302 overbored 0.030). In full race mode, Snoopy ran a best time of 12.03 at 118 mph.

The brothers raced Snoopy through 1972, then garaged it.

In 1983 one brother bought out the other's share of the car, and went to license it... as they had always used dealer plates for the previous 18 years. The state slammed them with taxes and fees. Ouch.

For the next 15 years Walt and his sons Bobby and Steven enjoyed showing the car and even garnered two Second Place and one Third Place concours awards at SAAC meets.

Walt passed away in 2010, leaving the heirloom Mustang to his sons. Having grown up with the car, they respected its significance as a rare Shelby but more so as a remembrance of their beloved father. After talking it over with close friends and the many folks who remembered its dragstrip exploits, the sons decided in 2015 to reapply the Snoopy graphics just as they appeared in 1966.

Wright had designed station owner Ray Lindholm's house in 1952, and, knowing Lindholm worked in the oil business, presented him with a proposal to design the gas station envisioned as part of Broadacre City. Lindholm, seeing an opportunity to beautify gas station design, agreed to his plan, and Wright completed his design in 1956. Despite the importance of gas stations to the Broadacre City concept, the building was the only service station Wright designed